ISSUE #87 CONTENTS: Egypt Special Edition
SPOTLIGHT CASES:
4th Annual Cairo Human Rights Film Festival
The 4th Cairo Human Rights Film Festival kicks off on Tuesday (Dec. 27) at the Saykat el-Sawy cultural center. The annual festival, which offers free screenings of films on human rights from around the World, comes this year with nackdrop of Egyptian uprising and ongoing protests. Several films at the festival focus on local events, like My Name is Tahrir documentary by award-winning producer Ali Algehini.
An initiative of the American Islamic Congress, the festival has been spotlighted by Time Magazine, BBC, and Al Jazeera as a pioneering effort in the Middle East to explore individual rights through cinema. Exposing Egyptian audiences to human rights challenges around the world, the festival underscores the universality of individual rights. Films at the festival spotlight dissident Soviet artists, as well as nonviolent protest movements from Argentina to the Ukraine to South Africa.
This year, the festival's opening ceremony showcases the winners of AIC's "Eye to Heart" short film competition, which challenged emerging young Middle Eastern filmmakers to explore the development of character in their own societies. The winning directors' provocative works will debut at the festival. For complete details, visit http://www.CairoFilm.org.
Still Behind Bars: Alaa Abd El-Fattah Becomes Father While in Jail
Manal Ahmed spent the final days of pregnancy wondering if her husband Alaa Abd El-Fattah would be released from jail by authorities in time. Alas, the day after the blogger-activist's detention was extended yet again, Manal gave birth to the couple's first child, an adorable baby boy Khaled. Her husband marked the occasion behind bars. Khaled, meanwhile, quickly received his own Twitter account (@Khalaaa) and attracted over 2,000 followers.
Alaa was arrested in October and charged with incitement and damaging military property during the Maspero massacre. Alaa had arrived at the October 9 protests and brought a wounded sixteen year-old to the hospital. There he helped organize families seeking autopsies of their deceased relatives. Alaa’s reporting on the death of Mina Daniel, a pro-democracy activist shot during the demonstration, as well as other critical articles he published in the newspaper Shorouk, likely led to his arrest.
After refusing to answer the military prosecutors questioning him on the principle that as a civilian he should be not be tried in a military tribunal, Alaa was jailed. His detention has repeatedly been extended. Alaa’s mother announced a hunger strike, and the European Parliament has called for his release. There is some hope that his case will be shifted to a civil court, but for now he remains behind bars. In a blog post about his newborn son, Alaa wrote: "How will I face him when I get out of prison after promising him he would be born free? We named him Khaled to repay part of the huge debt we owe Khaled Saeed. But instead of imprisoning those who killed him, we go to jail."
#NudePhotoRevolutionary Testing Boundaries of Free Expression
The so-called "Arab Spring" has spotlighted the grassroots demand for political reform in a region long dominated by dictatorships. The uprisings that have rocked the region speak to a hunger by a young generation of Middle Easterners for greater freedom. But beyond a general drive for change, to what extent will individual rights and free expression be allowed in the new emerging reality?
That question - and the boundaries of tenuous new freedoms - has been provocatively pushed by twenty year-old Egyptian Aliaa Elmahdy, who posted to her blog a photograph of herself completely naked, save a pair of red shoes and a hair ribbon. Elmahdy said that her intent was to send a message that the female body is not a source of shame. She claims the photo “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy." Elmahdy’s photograph, which has had over 1.5 million hits since it was first posted, has proved highly divisive. Some secularists applaud her action on behalf of women in a society where sexual harassment often goes unreported, while others felt she was damaging their chances in the elections.
Then Elmahdy pushed the envelope yet again, by launching a campaign calling for men to don the hijab in solidarity with women. She started the campaign because she felt many Egyptians “deny that the hijab discriminates between men and women.” The Facebook page “Wearing Hijab in Solidarity with Women” was shut down after thousands of complaints. Elmahdy’s exploits have caused a stir in a time when protesting is on the rise again in Egypt. Some liberals have dismissed her tactics as juvenile, worrying that they may in fact further alienate conservative Egyptian society from addressing women’s rights issues. In any case, Elmahdy’s bold acts have sparked a sharp discussion both in Egypt and the region as to where the boundaries free expression and political dialogue lie in the new order.
Where does a fashion crime receive more than an “Auf Weidersehen” from Heidi Klum?
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